Ross Swimmer's nomination

Thursday, March 6th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ A U.S. Senate committee approved the nomination Wednesday of former Cherokee Nation Chief Ross Swimmer as special trustee to manage American Indian trust funds.

The Senate Indian Affairs committee voted 9-5 for the nomination. It had voted in favor of Swimmer last week, but one member of the panel issued a technical challenge.

``I'm very pleased that the committee chose to take up my nomination and voted it out of committee,'' he said, expressing hope that a floor vote would follow soon. ``It's not a sure thing yet.''

Swimmer served as the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Reagan administration. He currently works in the trust transition office.

His nomination by President Bush as the third special trustee since the post was created by Congress in the mid-1990s has drawn a mixed reaction from tribes across the nation.